The Constellation of Starke will once again be seeking Regional Stellar Community Status this year.
The Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) is accepting Letters of Intent until 4 p.m. ET on Friday, April 3rd.
The COS Executive Committee will be coordinating with OCRA officials on Monday, February 10th to gain feedback about the Regional Development Plan that was submitted in September and final presentation that was delivered in November of last year.
Executive Committee members met at the end of January to discuss their strategy and start preliminary planning.
There was a general consensus that the executive committee needs to grow and the advisory committee and various subcommittees will need to have more guidance and responsibilities this time around.
There has always been an emphasis on incorporating as many people in the process as possible in order to gather an accurate and comprehensive representation of what the Region needs and wants but members feel it’s important to make sure those efforts are more organized with this attempt.
Since it was the first year that the Constellation of Starke was involved in the process, it was a learning experience. However, lot of the initial groundwork was already laid last year and the group intends to build off of that solid foundation going forward.
If you have an interest in getting more involved with the process, feel free to get a hold of COS region representatives.
You can do so by calling Starke County Economic Development Foundation Executive Director and COS Executive Committee member Larry Wickert at 574-772-5627, emailing constellationofstarke@gmail.com or reaching out through the Constellation of Starke Facebook Page.
